Parkland girls find offensive rhythm

Northwestern's Sara Jones passes the ball over an Emmaus player at… (BEN MORRISON, THE MORNING…)

January 10, 2013|Stephen Miller

During Wes Spence's first three years as Parkland's girls basketball coach, his postgame interviews following a loss often hit on the same topics.

He usually liked Parkland's defensive effort. He had few problems with the shot selection or looks his offense produced. His one consistent post-loss lament was an inability to convert quality shots into points.

Now in his fourth year in charge of the Trojans, Spence has watched Parkland play the best offensive basketball of his tenure over the last three weeks.

With Tuesday's 52-32 win over Liberty, the Trojans (9-1 overall, 4-1 Lehigh Valley Conference) surpassed 50 points for a sixth straight game. They have scored at least 54 points five times during that stretch. Parkland had just four games of 54-plus points over Spence's first three years.

The Trojans have established an offensive rhythm despite graduating their top three scorers from last year's team. Sierra Derti (10.5 points per game) and Hannah Gombos (10.1) have provided the most consistent scoring for Parkland, but a team-wide commitment to taking the best available shot has allowed the Trojans to blossom.

Parkland ranks third in the LVC in scoring offense, averaging 49.6 points per game. That is more than seven points more than the Trojans averaged last year (42.2).

"I don't think we're doing anything different," Spence said. "The ball's just going in more. This group, this is our fourth year now, and with the number of seniors we have, it's girls that have played in the system a number of years."

"I just think each year we've gotten better."

Parkland has made it tough for opposing defenses to concentrate on one or two players when trying to defend it. Five players — Derti, Gombos, Missy Oertner, Callie Kracjir and Olivia Brown — have had at least one game scoring in double figures over the last six contests. The Trojans have had at least two double-figure scorers during every game over that stretch, and five times they have had four girls score at least six points.

Parkland's improved offensive efficiency has marked it as an LVC title threat at midseason. The Trojans have continued to defend, surrendering a league-low 28.9 points per game.

"We're playing 10-11 girls right now," Spence said. "Girls are coming in, and they're all making positive contributions. We thought if we started going down this road, we could be a pretty good basketball team."

Transition time?: In a five-day span, three teams that started this season expecting to challenge for league titles knocked off teams that had won at least two straight league championships entering 2012-13.

Pocono Mountain West delivered the first statement win when it blitzed Pleasant Valley, the two-time defending Mountain Valley Conference champ, 53-35. That win pushed the Panthers to 4-0 in the league and extended a winning streak that sat at seven games entering Thursday. Pocono Mountain West hasn't lost since its lone setback, a 45-27 loss at Central Catholic on Dec. 11.

Bethlehem Catholic and Northwestern staked their claims as league favorites Tuesday in contrasting fashion. Bethlehem Catholic led wire-to-wire and pulled away to beat Central Catholic, winner of five straight LVC titles, 45-23. Northwestern rallied from 18 points down with 121/2 minutes to go to knock off Southern Lehigh, the two-time defending Colonial League champion, 72-65.

Bethlehem Catholic and Northwestern have thrived with strong two-way play. Northwestern began Thursday ranked second in the Colonial League in scoring offense (56.6 points per game) and first in scoring defense (31.3). Bethlehem Catholic was ranked second in the LVC in both scoring offense (53.0) and scoring defense (29.6).

The Bethlehem Catholic-Central Catholic and Northwestern-Southern Lehigh games were the lone regular-season meetings between those programs. Pocono Mountain West and Pleasant Valley will meet again Feb. 1.

Piling up points: Peruse the girls basketball box scores from any night and you'll see a lot of games when teams score in the 30s and 40s. So when Southern Lehigh registered an 80-63 win Saturday against Pen Argyl, the score jumped off the page.

The Spartans became the first team to score 80 points in a Colonial League regular-season game since Notre Dame-Green Pond beat Pen Argyl 89-48 on Jan. 8, 2002. Notre Dame scored 80 points in Colonial League play four times during the 2001-02 season en route to the league title game, which it lost to Catasauqua.

Southern Lehigh coach Megan Dellegrotti has prodded her players to push the pace this season, with most of the results positive. The Spartans entered Thursday leading the Colonial League in scoring, averaging 60.3 points per game.